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Will be summering at a firm with a large associate class. Just wondering whether firms expect you to be at every summer event and what the likelihood is that they notice when a SA ditches an event.

A family member was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness and I'm in the position to have to help with the logistics of their care as well as the interpretation of options. I plan to prioritize working the required hours weekly but I'm worried about not being able to attend (potentially several) firm events.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri May 06, 2022 5:31 pm

Will be summering at a firm with a large associate class. Just wondering whether firms expect you to be at every summer event and what the likelihood is that they notice when a SA ditches an event.

A family member was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness and I'm in the position to have to help with the logistics of their care as well as the interpretation of options. I plan to prioritize working the required hours weekly but I'm worried about not being able to attend (potentially several) firm events.

You don't have to go to any of the firm's events. They are there for you to meet people and network. The firm does not really care if you go or not. As long as you do acceptable work and have a good attitude, you have nothing to worry about.

If the social events take place outside of normal working hours, it won’t matter if you miss them so long as you communicate that you can’t go beforehand to the people organizing the event (so they don’t buy you a ticket or reserve you a spot, etc.). As long as you do enough good work you should still get an offer.

Sorry to hear that, OP. You should be fine. It will be a bummer to miss out on opportunities to get to know your classmates and others at the firm, but your inability to attend summer events shouldn’t impact whether you get an offer. I would communicate your situation to the recruiting folks (or whomever runs the summer program at your firm) so they are aware in advance of the start of the program.

Summers worry about a lot of stupid shit that doesn't lead to no-offers. I know I did. But I worry people are understating the importance of going to social events to comfort OP.

worst example:

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri May 06, 2022 5:53 pm

You don't have to go to any of the firm's events. They are there for you to meet people and network. The firm does not really care if you go or not.

second worst:

JTIII wrote: ↑

Fri May 06, 2022 6:37 pm

You should be fine. It will be a bummer to miss out on opportunities to get to know your classmates and others at the firm, but your inability to attend summer events shouldn’t impact whether you get an offer.

reasonable:

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri May 06, 2022 6:28 pm

If the social events take place outside of normal working hours, it won’t matter if you miss them so long as you communicate that you can’t go beforehand to the people organizing the event (so they don’t buy you a ticket or reserve you a spot, etc.).

You're probably fine if you skip roughly half of the events targeted toward you, but you can't miss everything and expect it not to be considered. But if you do like the last quoted post said and communicate the issue ahead of time that's probably enough.

I am sorry to hear that. People are by and large human beings, even in biglaw, so this is a situation they will understand. To the extent you’re comfortable doing so, I would explain your reason for missing early on to HR and to a partner with whom you feel comfortable. Go to what you can reasonably go to, but also do everything you need to do for your family member. Most firms will not penalize you for missing cocktail parties to care for a dying relative. If yours does, aim to move firms 3L.

Firstly, sorry to hear this news, and hope it all goes well. Secondly, I think this worry is completely understandable: your summer should all be perfectly fine and you will almost definitely get an offer, but the stakes are so high ($200k+ salary) that it of course brings with it a lot of pressure.

As to your question, it honestly depends. At my firm, people didn't care two hoots about who showed up or not. We had a relatively small class size. There was even one summer who made it clear he didn't like certain summer activities and just decided not to show up. Another cancelled an activity because he was meeting up with some friends. Yes, some of the associates gossiped about it a bit. No, the partnership did not care that much. I myself went to all activities, but dipped out early nearly every time. We all received offers.

That being said, one of my friends was told that they had to show up to all events and was stringently advised to go no matter what came up. The suggestion was that money was spent on the summer and if they didn't show up, it was highly disrespectful.

For me, I think you at least have to tell HR/whoever is organizing it about your predicament as well as the partners of your team, so they're on notice. Hopefully, they will be receptive. If not: you probably don't want to be at this firm anyway. I would then go to the summer activities and seek to lateral during your first year.